Technology And Military Competition In The Near Space – Analysis

By He Jun

In the recent “China’s balloon” incident, an unmanned Chinese high-altitude balloon broke into the airspace of the United States. China explained that it was a civil meteorological balloon, but the U.S. insisted that it was a suspected spy balloon. After a few days, it was shot down by a U.S. military fighter jet. This unexpected incident affected the itinerary of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China and caused a moderate disturbance to the efforts of the two countries to restore communication and stabilize the fragile bilateral relationship.

A result of this incident is the use of “near space” has been made even more obvious than before.

Near space refers to the airspace 20 km -100 km above the ground. The airspace below the near space is commonly referred to as the “sky”, which is the main activity space of conventional aircraft. The airspace above it is commonly referred to as “outer space”, which is the operating space of spacecraft like rockets, satellites, space stations, etc. Near space is also known as the “edge of space”. In popular understanding, it is the transitional space between spaceflight and aviation.

Near space is between the scope of aerospace and aviation, and as noted above, it belongs to the transitional airspace where spacecraft and aircraft operate. Generally speaking, satellites, space stations, rockets, and space telescopes in the aerospace field are all well-known, while the aviation field is commonly understood because it involves various types of aircraft and missiles. It is precisely the transitional airspace between the two that is less exposed to the public. However, near space has unique development and application value both in science and technology and military affairs.

Its application mainly depends on the development of near space aircraft. At present, there are quite a few such aircraft under research in various countries. Based on the flight speed, they can be roughly divided into two types: high dynamic aircraft (with Mach number greater than 1.0) and low dynamic aircraft (with Mach number less than 1.0). The former is mainly used for military purposes that include hypersonic patrolling aircraft, suborbital aircraft, etc. Such an aircraft is characterized by its fast speed, long distance, high maneuverability, strong survivability, and various types of loads. It possesses the advantages of long-range and fast arrival, high-speed and precise strike, as well as reusability. It can carry nuclear warheads in replacing ballistic missiles to implement strategic deterrence. At the same time, it can also carry long-range precision ammunition as a lethal means to attack high-value or sensitive targets. It can also carry information sensors to conduct rapid reconnaissance of important global targets. The hypersonic weapons researched and mastered by a minority of countries in the world belong to this type of high-dynamic aircraft.

Low-dynamic near space aircraft mainly includes stratospheric airships, high-altitude balloons, high-altitude long-endurance UAVs, etc. The Chinese “stray balloon” that broke into U.S. airspace this time is a low-dynamic aircraft. They have the characteristics of long suspension time, large load capacity, high flight altitude, and strong survivability. They can carry information acquisition loads such as visible light, infrared, multi-spectral and hyper-spectral, and radar, and can be used as a means of obtaining regional information. Low-dynamic aircraft such as high-altitude balloons and unmanned airships have a wide range of uses. In civilian use, it can be used for meteorological monitoring, atmospheric research, atmospheric environmental protection, operation and diffusion of harmful substances in the atmosphere, ground remote sensing, etc. In terms of military affairs, it can be used for military reconnaissance to improve battlefield information perception capabilities; it can also carry various electronic countermeasure loads to achieve battlefield electromagnetic suppression and electromagnetic strikes, and destroy enemy information systems. In addition, it can also carry communication and other energy relay loads, as well as used in field emergency communication and energy relay services, etc.

Near space is a new domain of technology and military applications, and the key technologies of both low-dynamic and high-dynamic aircraft are being rapidly broken through. Countries like the United States, China, Russia, and many others are researching and developing their own near space aircraft. Regardless of whether it is military or civilian, the development and utilization of near space is no secret. If such aircraft is integrated to land, sea, air, and space information network systems, it will pose new challenges to the security of all countries.

When it comes to low-dynamic near space aircraft, current research focuses on stratospheric airships, floating air balloons, and high-altitude long-endurance UAVs. Among them, the stratospheric airship is another important fixed-point platform besides geosynchronous satellites, which can be used as an effective supplement to satellites and aircraft.

Compared with satellites, near space aircraft has the advantages of high cost-effectiveness, good maneuverability, less difficult payload technology, and easy update and maintenance. The distance from this kind of aircraft to the target is generally only 1/10 – 1/20 of that of the low-orbit satellite, and it can receive low-power transmission signals that satellites cannot monitor while being easier to achieve high-resolution earth observation. There are several disadvantages to it, which are smaller field vision and the airspace of various countries is limited. Compared with conventional aircraft, the advantages of near space aircraft are: (1) Longer working time: The duration of near space aircraft is measured in days, and some platforms are scheduled to stay in space for as long as 6 months, or even more than 1 year. (2) Wider coverage: The flying altitude of such a vehicle is higher than that of conventional aircraft, and its reconnaissance coverage is much wider. (3) Stronger survivability: The capsule of a balloon or blimp is made of non-metallic materials and operates at a low speed. The radar and heat reflection cross-sections are very small, making it more difficult to be detected by traditional tracking and aiming methods.

Given the unique role of near space aircraft, countries including the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Israel, and South Korea are all investing a lot of money in such technology and application research, with the U.S. being the leader among them. As early as 2005, the U.S. Department of Defense included near space vehicles in the category of unmanned aerial vehicle systems for the first time. In 2005, the U.S. Air Force’s free balloon Combat SkySat was successfully demonstrated. In November 2005, the U.S. Army’s stratospheric airship HiSentinel achieved powered flight. In early 2006, the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Committee made specific recommendations for the development of near space vehicles. As of now, the U.S. has achieved a leading position in the field of near space vehicle research.

In recent years, China has also increased the development and application of the near space field. On October 13, 2015, China launched Yuanmeng at Xilinhot in Inner Mongolia, its first new type of near space platform for military and civilian use. This is the world’s first near space airship flight with continuous power, controllable flight, and reusable capabilities, and it is also the first flight to provide commercial services to enterprises and individual users. Chinese scholars have also completed the “Research on Legal Issues in the Development of Near Space Vehicles”, filling the gap in the study of China’s near space legal norms. The vehicles Tianheng and Yuanmeng that Chinese companies have disclosed operate at an altitude in the stratosphere, between 23,000 m and 66,000 m above the ground, and are typical “near space airships” or “stratospheric airships”. In December 2022, a U.S. commercial satellite took a photo while passing over the South China Sea, showing that a large Chinese “high-altitude airship” appeared for the first time on the islands and reefs of the South Sea. The American Warzone magazine stated that this large airship is powered by solar energy and can perform long-term missions such as reconnaissance, early warning, and guidance interruption in the South Sea, making the activities of the U.S. military there to face more dangers. For the Chinese military, if it can have a few large airships in the South Sea, this will enable it to increase its ability to grasp the surrounding situation in a larger range.

Final analysis conclusion:

The development and utilization of near space are witnessing an increasingly higher value, and countries have boosted their research, development, and utilization of it. In this relatively new field, the differences between countries are not too great. With geopolitical factors dominating the world, competition between countries will develop from the surface of the earth to the high-altitude near space. A higher frontier of the national competition will, in turn, add new significance to the inclusion of near space.

He Jun is a researcher at ANBOUND